American religious anti-intellectualism as we know it really started with the rise of evangelism and fundamentalism in the 1890s-1900s. But it goes in phases: Pentecostalism emerges in the 1900s, fundamentalism and the rejection of modernity and science in the 1930s, anti-liberalism and various “youth” movements in the 1950s, television ministries and mega churches in the 1970s, religious political conservatism in the 1980s and 1990s, and the rise of the non-denominational “bible follower” churches in the 2000s.

But America also experienced several “awakenings” in the 1800s, which gave rise to all sorts of new flavors of spiritualism and Christianity ranging from Mormons to abolitionists. And there’s the rise of the (literal) Salvation Army in the US in the 1880s (but we really have the UK to thank for them).

It’s been incubating here for a long, long time.

but surely him rising again is more important than his death?

Depends on how fixated a faith is on the “sacrifice of the Lamb.” There’s one interpretation that Jesus’ suffering and death is what appeased God and fulfilled the prophecy and ended the law of Moses. If you’re the kind of person that buys into God being the sort of deity that wants to kill himself in order to satisfy his own bloodlust, then yeah, I could see Christ’s death being the more important part.

Surely the resurrection should be emphasized as the result, but the death is what God demanded to atone for the sins of the world. The resurrection was just proof that he held up his end of the bargain.

I think that the Christ story suffers from the audience knowing details about the story that the characters don’t to the point that the big miracle at the end falls flat. Everyone just ends up focusing on the mechanics of Christs death rather than its purpose.

I like your perspective and wish Christianity aligned more with your post than whatever it’s doing now.

I’m not Christian, but I have observed that the worship of the cross and Christ’s death is directly tied to the theological idea of salvation, especially with evangelicals. If his death is the single most important part of your faith, then the cross becomes a symbol and reminder that you’re saved and not going to hell. It was primed to become a symbol and eventually an idol.

I also think historically the cross as a symbol for Christianity comes from the Greek letter chi (x) in the spelling of Christ. “X-tians” was a shorthand form way before the “taking Christ out of Christmas” nonsense.

But to the original point of the Klan burning the cross: I’ve read that they argue that cross burning is a medieval European affirmation of faith, something that is doing double duty of arguing that it’s an expression of their faith and connecting them to their “racial” roots.

The New Colossus was released during Trump’s first term and it was really cathartic to play during the shit storm. The game even pissed off the “alt-right.” The New Order and The Old Blood are much better at “endless destruction of Nazis” though.

Might be time to reinstall and play through them again.

And the ‘it’s just a flu!’ people pissed me the fuck off.

I think many people haven’t actually had the flu or have had it after a vaccination or a during mild year.

That shit is awful, and it can and has killed. Hell, 100 years before COVID there was the 1918 Flu Epidemic which killed nearly three times as many people as COVID. So when some chucklefuck prattles on about “it’s just the flu,” my response is always, “that doesn’t make it safer.”

I’ve experienced the language skills of Nederlanders first hand! What I found to be most striking was hearing people having trilingual conversations especially in restaurants where the waitstaff were actively communicating individually with dozens of people in two to three languages.

I’ve tried to keep up with language skills but starting a language in high school or college just didn’t work for me. Especially since the application of those skills prioritizes written communication. I always end up with an understanding of pronunciation, some grammar, and a handful of vocabulary that I can’t actively use.

I don’t think any Americans are judging you too harshly for UK spellings. I think keeping track of all the slang and colloquialisms would be the greater challenge. I was taught “grey” and “colour” as a kid and the only problem I have is with spellcheck. 😂

That’s one way to do it!

I had problems with TSA before because my real ID confused them and they didn’t believe it was a valid US ID. Granted, this was at a regional airport, but it’s literally the ID that complies with requirements set by Homeland Security for the specific purpose of use in airports by TSA.

Edit: and my ID isn’t even from New Mexico!

Your English is also better than people in my family whose ancestors were 18th-century British colonists.

I once had a heated argument with a coworker about where the capital of the US is located. He was of the opinion that Washington state was the capital and Washington, DC was a US city located in Colombia (he also had difficulty understanding that Colombia and Columbia were spelled differently). He wasn’t trolling; when I finally got to a map (pre-smart phone days) and showed him where DC is located, he got really mad.

You’re right. No shame there, but definitely knocks a $100 or more off the price.

Scandalous!

True. I was mostly thinking about having to buy keycaps aftermarket when the prices double/triple and having to source all the different kits.

Personally, I think I have three times as many keycap sets than I do keyboards.

Yep! This is far from the strangest layout and keycap use out there, but you’ll find that Enter and Shift keys are more common for split spacebar layouts on larger (and saner) 40% keyboards.

This is still a split spacebar layout though, the person on reddit who built this thing even said that they just didn’t have the right sized blank keycaps. This is very normal for small keyboards since keycap sets usually are designed for regular layouts and don’t always have the right size, sculpt, and legend for weird layouts.

Don’t forget keycaps! It’s where the real money is lost.

That set looks like GMK Blue Samurai, which sells new for $150.

Split spacebars are thing mostly because of layouts that won’t support a normal spacebar key. But, since most of these keyboards have user created and designed firmware, one could assign those spacebar keys to do anything.

I have a few keyboards with split spacebars where the “right” spacebar is normal; it’s just a spacebar but small. The “left” space does dual duty; tap it and it’s a spacebar, hold it down and it becomes a modifier key for a custom layer. Custom layers are used on small keyboards to make the “missing” keys available, sort of like how a phone keyboard has number layer and symbols layer.

I fully embraced this habit of split spacebars because I cannot train myself to use my left thumb to hit space for the life of me even though I’m a touch typist. Since my right thumb is the only digit hitting space, may as well get some use out of the rest of the space taken up by that spacebar.

Adjusted for inflation, that $0.25 is now equivalent to $68 million dollars, so…

Cue the Scroll Phone^TM.

I can’t even imagine the nightmare UI that would accommodate that type of screen.

Mechanically, I could see a device that has a slide down keyboard and a roll up screen. Functionally, I can’t see how it would be useful for daily smart phone actions like one-handed use or swipe-gestures.

I went through a McDonald’s drive-thru the other day and had the most insane experience. For the context of this anecdote, I don’t do that often, so, what I experienced was just weird.

While not quite “AI,” the first thing that happened was an automated voice yells at me, “are you ordering using your mobile app today?”

There’s like three menu-speaker boxes, and due to where the car in front of me stopped, I’m like in between the last two. The other speaker begins to yell, “Are you ordering using your mobile app today?”

The person running drive-thru mumbles something about pull around. I do. Pass by the other menu “Are you ordering using your mobile app today?”

Dude walks out with a headset and starts taking orders from each car using a tablet.

I have no idea what is happening. I can’t even see a menu when the guy gets around to me. Turns the tablet around at me.

I realized that I was indeed ordering using the mobile app today.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1701-1959). Frank Lloyd Wright was an omniscient demimortal techno mage who took up architecture in the late 19th-century at the age of 186 after discovering the eldritch art of soul drafting. He began designing and building structures across the United States with the intention of harnessing the psycho-emotional energy of the US population. Many of his architectural plans plainly display the geometrical interplanar-harvester elements, in comparison to architects such as Ivo Shandor (cult of Gozer) who felt the need to obfuscate the intent of their structures. ^[1]^ Wright’s final design was commissioned from archmage Norman Lykes, who trapped Wright’s life force in a soul stone embedded in a Mission-style rocking chair. Wright’s legacy was commemorated by logistical clerics in a postage stamp in 1966 and in 1970 by Bardic duo Simon & Garfunkel.